A new treatment for the most malignant form of skin cancer shows a remarkable potential for curing many people suffering from the illness, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The drug, PLX432, shrank tumors in an amazing 26 out of 32 patients with metastatic melanoma, according to the study. Lynn Schuchter, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, who worked on the study, told USA Today that some patients began showing improvement in only a few days.
In two cases, the tumors disappeared altogether. Metastatic melanoma is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with an average survival time of nine months or less.
However, other tumors developed resistance to the drug, which can help only those patients whose tumors have a particular mutation in a gene called BRAF. If the drug is approved, doctors would give melanoma patients a test to see if they could be helped by PLX432.
Researchers still have to perform further studies on the drug, but if they too are positive, PLX432 could be approved as early as 2011.
If youd like to learn more about PLX432, you can call 888-662-6728. To learn more about clinical trials for other melanoma drugs similar to PLX432, go to www.clinicaltrials.gov.
